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McBride says, “When I first started the show, I had intended that there would be an awards ceremony, but I wanted to wait until the show was established, and the caliber of work we received was award-worthy.” This year, when she received submissions for the show, she knew that “this was the year.” So she asked Robert Koenke, a noted art expert and board member of numerous museums and the judge for the national Arts for the Parks painting competition, to judge the entries with her.
“We were very much in sync when it came to evaluating the paintings,” McBride remarks. She had struggled to find a reputable judge whose values aligned with hers and whose opinion would be respected by the artists.
The Best of Show Award went to Matthew Hillier's oil painting Frozen Creek, completed near his home in Easton, Maryland (see picture). McBride recalls Hillier's surprise: “Upon receiving the award, he blurted out, ‘I never win anything!' and many of the artists agreed.” Hillier is an internationally-known painter who hails from England. He has been in several museum shows, and surely more invitations will follow.
Other awards were also presented. The Small Gem Award was won by Michael Godfrey's oil painting Glow, a sunset over the marshes of the Blackwater Reserve. Tim Bell won the Artists' Choice Award with his oil painting Dredgers and Tongers, depicting two skipjacks and tools of the trade. Additionally, three Merit Awards were presented to Lisa Egeli, for Evening Sigh, a scene of Deep Cove Creek; Tim Bell for Hopeful, a painting of two docked draketail workboats, and Scott Lloyd Anderson for Still Standing, a study of a weathered barn on the Eastern Shore.
The Best of the Chesapeake Show cele ates the beauty of the Chesapeake Bay yesterday and today. The 22 exhibiting artists came from all areas of the country, but predominantly the Mid- Atlantic area. The artworks ranged from historic schooners and clipper ships on the Bay in earlier centuries to graceful skipjacks, herons and egrets, and small, quaint harbor towns along the meandering shoreline of the Chesapeake.
Next year, McBride hopes to add even more paintings to the exhibit by opening it up at the national level and making it a juried and judged show. As of this year, the show has been an invitational one, meaning that McBride has invited local artists to enter their work. But next year, the show will be big enough that artists will pay an entry fee to enter work of their own volition. These entries will then be juried, and the paintings that make the cut will be judged, and awards given. Be on the lookout, art lovers—this gallery is on the rise.
In the meantime, it's not too late for you to catch the exhibit! It continues through October 4th.
McBride Gallery is open seven days a week. Gallery Hours: Mon.-Sat. 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m., Sunday, noon-5:30 p.m., Thursday until 9 p.m. For more information call 410-267-7077.
Visit the Gallery web site for additional information and show images: mc idegallery.com
